Two-thirds of India’s 58 tiger reserves have either declining prey base or poor habitat or both; nine have zero or critically low tiger numbers, says government report

Legal architecture: Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the NTCA The National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted under Section 38L of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (inserted by the 2006 amendment), with the Union Environment Minister as chairperson and a vice-chairperson, MPs, and wildlife experts as members. Section 38V requires every state government, in consultation with the NTCA, to prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan for each reserve, covering ecologically compatible land use, staffing, and protection of both the core/critical tiger habitat and the buffer zone. This report is precisely the kind of technical exercise Section 38V envisages — an evidence base for revising conservation plans in underperforming reserves such as Dampa and Buxa. UPSC frequently tests exact section numbers (38L for NTCA constitution, 38V for tiger conservation plans/critical tiger habitat) and NTCA's statutory (not merely administrative) status.

Project Tiger and reserve classification Project Tiger was launched in 1973 (not a statutory scheme, but a centrally sponsored one now implemented through the NTCA framework) and today covers 58 tiger reserves. A tiger reserve is legally distinct from a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary: it is a notified area under the Wildlife Protection Act with a mandatory two-part structure — a Core or Critical Tiger Habitat (identified based on scientific criteria, where human activity is tightly restricted) and a surrounding Buffer Zone (where regulated, coexistence-based land use is permitted). A reserve can overlap with a National Park or Sanctuary but has additional layers of protection and a dedicated Tiger Conservation Plan; National Parks and Sanctuaries do not have this core-buffer bifurcation. The report's finding that some reserves (Dampa, Kawal, Satkosia) have zero resident tigers despite reserve status shows that notification alone does not guarantee population — habitat and prey management under the Tiger Conservation Plan are what matter operationally.

All India Tiger Estimation methodology Conducted every four years by the NTCA with the Wildlife Institute of India, the All India Tiger Estimation is the world's largest camera-trap wildlife survey (Guinness-recognised for the 2018 and 2022 cycles). It uses a three-phase design: Phase I is beat-level sign/transect and habitat-plot data collected by forest department field staff; Phase II involves landscape-level analysis using remote sensing at WII; Phase III deploys camera traps at sampled sites to generate capture-recapture density estimates, which are then extrapolated using occupancy models. Field data collection and camera-trap logistics are managed through M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), a GIS-based patrol and monitoring app used by forest staff. The 2022 cycle photographed 3,080 unique tigers (up from 2,461 in 2018), with occupancy rising from 1,758 to 1,792 grid cells of 100 sq km. This methodology, not headline tiger counts alone, is what this report's prey/habitat findings are built on.

Prey base and carrying capacity Tiger population is fundamentally capped by prey density (chital, sambar, wild pig, gaur) rather than by habitat area alone — a core ecological concept for Mains answers on conservation policy. Reserves with degraded grasslands, livestock grazing pressure, or poor ungulate recovery cannot sustain viable tiger densities even if forest cover looks adequate, which explains why 36 of 58 reserves in this report show prey-related problems. This is the ecological logic behind active management interventions like herbivore reintroduction and rotational grazing exclusion, distinct from purely area-based protection.